Configuring Block Storage for Classic for backup with cPanel

You can use the following instructions to configure your backups in cPanel to be stored in IBM Cloud® Block Storage for Classic. The assumption is that root or sudo SSH and full WebHost Manager (WHM) access are available.

While you can store a backup directly to a remote filesystem, cPanel & WHM does not support this configuration. For more information, see the cPanel documentation for backup.

1. Connect to the host through SSH.

2. Ensure that a mount point target exists. By default, the cPanel system saves backup files locally, to the /backup directory. For this document, it is assumed that the folder /backup exists and contains backups, and /backup2 is used as the new mount point.

3. Configure your Block Storage for Classic as described in one of the following tutorials. Make sure that you mount it to /backup2 and configure it in /etc/fstab to enable mounting on start.

   • Mount iSCSI LUN on Red Hat Enterprise Linux® 8.
   • Mount iSCSI LUN on CloudLinux 8.
   • Mount iSCSI LUN on Ubuntu 20.

4. Optional: Copy existing backups to the new storage. You can use rsync.

   rsync -azv /backup/* /backup2/
   

   This command compresses and transmits your data, while it preserves as much as possible, except for hard links. It provides information about what files are being transferred plus a brief summary at the end.

5. Log in to WHM and go to the backup configuration by clicking Home > Backup > Backup Configuration.

6. Edit the configuration to save the backups in the new mount point.

   • Change the default backup directory by entering the absolute path to the new location in place of the /backup directory.
   • Select Enable to mount a backup drive. This setting causes the backup configuration process to check the /etc/fstab file for a backup mount (/backup2).

   If a mount exists with the same name as the staging directory, the backup configuration process mounts the drive and backs up the information to the drive. After the backup process finishes, it dismounts the drive.

7. Apply the changes by clicking Save Configuration.

8. Optional: As dictated by your particular use case and business needs, remove the old storage from the server and cancel from the account.